Lock



E. R. WEBER LOCK Filed March 9, 1921 2 Sheetsheet 1 Fatent Feb. 2, 322%units arse EUGENE R. WEBER, OF ROCHESTER, NEW LEAF ING, OF ROCHESTER,NEW Y roan, assreiioa 'ro sandman nan GREEN- oaK, a eoaroaarron an newrear.

LOCK.

Application filed March 9, 1921. Serial No. 450,917.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, .EUGENE R. WEBER, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Locks; and Ido hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, forming a part of this specification, and to the referencenumerals marked thereon.

-This invention has to do with locks and more particularly with thevariety known as combination locks, the chief object of the inventionbeing to provide a simple, inexpensive, and eflicient lock of this type,having an improved and practical form of construction' employing aminimum number of springs and independent of actuation by the force ofgravity so as to be durable and reliable in operation in any position ofarrangement on a door or other object. To these and other ends theinvention consists in certain improvements and combinations of parts,all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel featuresbeing pointed out in the claims at the end of the specification.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a front elevation of a lock embodying thepresent invention.

Figure 2 is an end elevation of the same. Figures 3 and 4 are rearelevations of the same with the rear casing wall removed, showing theparts in different operating positions.

Figure 5 is a central sectional lan view. Figure 6 is a detailed view sustantially on the line (i -G of Figure 5.

Figure 7 is an enlarged detailed view substantially on the line 7- a ofFigure 5.

Figure 8 is an enlarged fragmentary view of one of the plates forming africtional driving connection in the lock.

Figures 9 and 10 are sectional views of the same on the lines 9"9 and 10-10 of Figure 8.

Figure 11 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a cooperating frictionplate.

Figure 12 is an elevation of the inside of the rear wall of the-casingsubstantially on the line 12"12= of Figure 5. Similar reference numeralsthroughout the several views indicate the same parts.

-and enclosing the mechanism.

The present invention comprises a combination lock having an improvedform of constructlon practically independent of actuation by springs orthe force of gravity and adapted for use on either a right or left handdoor, or in other words, in any posit1on on a door, together with meanspreventing the violent release of the bolt, as has at times beenoperating spindle through the lock. Referringto the drawings for a moredetailed descrlption, there is shown a casing having front and rearwalls 20 and 21, respectively, w1th a rearwardly extending peripheralflange 22 on the front wall, spacing the walls Flange 22 has a recess 23therein at one end of the casmg in which is supported and guided asliding bolt 24, and the rear wall 21 has a lug 25, Figures 2 and 5,projecting into opening 23 and also the bolt. The front wall of thecasing is formed with openings 26 for the reception of screws or othersuitable means for securing it to a door and the rear wall 21 isprovided with openings 27, in the half portion thereof adjacent thebolt, for the reception of screws threadedly engaging lugs on the frontwall of the casing for securing the rear wall in place.

The combination mechanism proper for actuating the bolt comprisespreferably a sleeve 29, Figure 5, carried by and projecting from eitherside of the front wall 20, and mountedexteriorly on the end of thesleeve projecting within the casing is a second sleeve 30 on which arerotatably supported a plurality of wheels 31 of which three are employedin the present instance. Each wh el carries on its periphery an outerpart comprising a pair of spaced annular plates 32 adapted to berotatably adjusted or set on the wheel by means presently to attempted,by driving the supporting and guiding vbe described. The plates of eachpair are fixed together as by means of rivets33, and are provided withalined eripheral recesses 34. The periphery of each wheel 31 ispreferably formed between the plates 32 with a tooth surface 35 withwhich is adapted to engage the correspondingly toothed end of a lever 36lying between each pair of plates and pivotally supported on the latterby means of a pin 37; Lever 36 is actuated by a leaf spring 38 to carryits toothed end out of engagement with the tooth periphery of plates 32.Cam 41 has a flattened portion 42 and may be rotated by the insertion ofa key in a slot 43 in the cam, it being understood that the cams 41 ofthe different wheels mav be brought into alinement with each other forsimultaneous adjustment by rotary'adjustment of the wheels and turned bythe insertion of the key in slots 43 to bring the flat sides 42 ofthe'cams opposite the end '40 of lever 36 thereby allowing the lever tobe swung by spring 38 to clear the wheels 31. This permits the turningof the wheels 31, by operating mechanism presently to be described,relatively to the pairs of plates 32 carried by the wheels,'for thepurpose of rotatably adjusting or setting the outer parts of plates onthe wheels to vary the combination, as Well understood in theart,andafter such setting of the combination cam 41 may be again turned tobring its arcuate portion against lever 36 thereby swinging the latterand locking the pairs of plates to the wheel. Cams 41 of course can onlybe reachedby the insertion of a key through an opening in the rear wall21 of the casing.

\Vheels 31 are rotated to operate the lock by means comprising acircular recess 44 dle 51 alternately'to right wheels 31 may besuccessively adjusted to formed in the upper. side of each wheel aboutthe sleeve 30 on which it rotates, the )eripheral-wall of this recessbeing prefer-a ly cut away or notched over a portion of its extent as at45. Rotating on sleeve 30 within each recess 441s a ring or fly46 havinga lug 47 playing in the notch 45 of the wheel, and

.depending from the bottom of each wheel,

except the first or forward one, is a pin 48' rotating within the recess40 of the. adjacent wheel and movable into engagement with the lug 47 iof fly 46 for the purpose of rota-ting the fly, and by engagement of lug47 with the sides of notch 45, rotatably adjusting the adjacent wheel.Rotating within sleeve 30 at the rear end of the latter is anothersleeve 49 having a laterally projecting cam flange or wheel 50, thesleeve being in threaded engagement with the rear'end of a spindle 51extending through the front. wall of the casingand secured to the sleeve49 as by means of a key 51*, Figure 4. Cam flange 50 is provided with arecess 52 for a purposedescribedhereafter. It is apparent from thisconstruction that by rotating spinand left the bring the notches 34 inthe outer parts or plates 32 thereof into registry with each other andopposite the fence of .the lock to release the latter, as wellunderstood in the.

art, and means are provided between the spindle and bolt including ayielding frictional connection to retract the bolt by continued movementof the spindle when the face with a series of depressions 55 with whichare adapted to engage. corresponding projections 56 on a pluralityofresilient fingers 57 extending radiall from an adjacent part or plate58'fixed on flange 53, so that as spindle 51 is turned plate 58isrotated and its projections bearing against plate 54 frictionally engagethe depressions 55 of the latter and apply a yielding force to the platetending to rotate the same. Plate 54 is preferably provided with arecessor aperture 57, Figures 3 and 4, into which the fingers 57 may bemanually bent one at a time to so set them as to increase frictionalpressure on plate 54, when desired. Plate 54 is generally circularjnshape with an extension on one side in which is formed a slot 59slidably embracing a post 60 on one arm of a bolt actuating lever 61pivotally carried at 62 on the casing. This end of lever 61 rides overthe periphery of the cam or flange 50 which locks it against movementexcept when recess 52 of the flange is brought opposite the lever. Theother arm of lever 61 is provided with a slot 63 loosely.

engaging a post 64 carried by the inner end of the bolt, so that thelever has play or with their recesses 34 in registry with the fence,fla-nge50 may be rotated by means of the spindle,-in accordance with asuitable combination, until its recess 52 registers with the end oflever 61, after which rotation of the spindle in a counter-clockwisedirection, Figure 3, through the frictional connection described, swingslever 61 into recess 52 of flange 50. This movement of the lever ispermitted independently of the bolt by the lost motion between slot 63and post 64. Recess 52, as shown, has an inclined side, permitting entryof the adjacent and of the lever and a the other or radially extendingside of the recess then engages the lever, carries -'-the fence into therecesses in the wheels, and thus positively retracts the bolt. Thisfrictional connection which establishes positive connection between thespindle and bolt is, of course, independent of the action of. gravity onthe parts in any position of attachment of the lock to a door or otherobject, so that the lock is.equally well adapted for use with either ofits sides uppermost, or many other position. The

menace construction of this'connection is particularly advantageousbecause of the large area of contact between the frictional parts whichit provides, thus reducing the wearing action on the parts, while suchparts, notwithstanding their comparatively large area, are locatedwithin the ,lines of the usual recessed or combination wheels so thatthe size of the mechanism as a whole is not appreciably increased.Furthermore, the form of the plate 58 with its spring fingers 57 permitsof the setting or bending of the latter at any time so as to bear withgreater pressure on plate 54 to increase the friction. This isaccomplished by bringing such fingers one at a time over the aperture 57in plate 54 and bending them downwardly into such aperture.

To provide for operation of the lock mechanism spindle 51 is extendedthrough sleeve 29 of the front wall of the casing and has fixed on itsforward end a knob 66 carrying the usual dial plate 67 marked withsuitable numbers or other indicia adapted to be brought by rotationofthe spindle selectively into registry with the general index mark 68or with a special mark 69 on the periphery of a flange 70 fixed on asleeve 71 which is in turn fixed on the jecting end of sleeve 29 of thecasing.

It has frequently happened that persons attempting unauthorizedoperation of such locks have resorted to the expedient of removing theoperating knob and driving the spindle through the mechanism'to displacethe rear wall of the casing and therebyremove the means supporting thebolt so that the latter is no longer effective. To the end of preventingthe forcing of the lock in this manner the rear wall of the casing ofthe present device is preferably formed with a weakened section aflordedby a groove 73, Figure 5 and 12, cut partially through the wall fromside to side of the latter and located between the portion of the wallopposite the end of the spindle and the means for fastening the rearwall to the rest of the casing. so that in violently through the lockthe corresponding end of the rear wall alone is broken off, the groove73 localizing the fracture between the spindle and the securing meanspassing through openings 27 in the rear wall. The opposite end of thewall is thus left intact to support the bolt and prevent forcing of thedoor or other object secured by the lock.

It is to be noted that in the frictional ac-" tuating connection betweenthe spindle and bolt, the plate 50-and other parts of the connection alllie radially inward of the cams 41 for setting the combination so astoclear the latter for the insertion of the key and the change in thecombination at any time, and this connection is otherwise compact inanforwardly prodisplaced, leaving the case the spindle isforcedrangement requiring no material alteration or enlargement of theparts-ordinarily employed in a lock of this type.

The operation of the device has already been indicated and requires nofurther description than to state that when knob 66 is operated to setup the combination with reference to the special index mark 69, cams 41are brought into registry with each other and with the opening in theinner wall of the casing and by the insert-ion of a key the outer'ornotched part of the combination wheels may be released from the latter.The knob may then be rotated to adjust the wheels to any new combinationafter which the outer or notched parts of the wheel may again be lockedthereto by turning the setting key. Employing the combination thus setup, the lock is operated in the usual manner to bring the variousindicia forming the combination successively into registry with theindex 68 so that the recesses of the combination wheels and of theflange 50 are brought into registry with the fence and lever 61,respectively, after which continued movement of. the knob, through thefrictional connection described, establishes a positive connectionbetween the. knob and bolt, and slides the bolt to release the door.

.Rotation of the knob in the opposite direction serves of course toextend the bolt to lock the door, and the weakened section of the rearwall of the casing is so located with reference to the arrangement ofthe other parts that should the spindle be driven violently through thelock, that' portion of the rear wall only lying opposite the spindle isportion supporting the bolt intact so-that the bolt is not released.

I claim as my invention:

1. A combination lock comprising selectively adjustable recessed wheels;a bolt, a fence movable with the latter, a spindle for adjusting saidwheels and provided with bolt actuating means, a part rotatable on saidspindle and connected with said bolt actuatingmeans. and a frictionalconnection between said spindle and part to actuate the latter when therecesses in sa d wheels are adjusted to register with said fence.

2. A combination lock comprising selectively adjustable recessed wheels,a bolt, a fence movable with the latter, a spindle for adjusting saidwheels and provided with bolt actuating means, a plate rotatable on saidspindle and connected with said bolt actuating means, and a second platefixed on fence inovable with the latter, a spindle for adjusting saidwheels, normally disestablished means for positively connecting saidspindle and bolt, a part movably carried by said spindle and connectedwith said means for establishing the latter, and a frictional connectionbetween said spindle and part to actuate the latter when the recesses insaid wheels are adjusted to register with said fence.

4. A combination lock comprising selectly' adjustable recessed wheels, abolt, a lever for moving the latter, a fence movable with said lever andbolt, a spindle provided with means for adjusting said wheels and forengaging said lever 1n one position of the latter, a part movablycarried by said spindle and connected with said lever to move the sameto position for engagement by said spindle means, and means fixed onsaid spindle frictionally engaging said part to move the same and saidlever when the recesses in said wheels are adjusted-to register withsaid fence.

- 5. A combination lock comprising selectively adjustable recessedwheels, a bolt, a lever for moving the latter, a fence movable with saidlever and bolt, a spindle provided with means for adjusting said wheels,a plate rotatable on said spindle and connected with said lever to movethe same, a resilient flange fixed on said spindle, and cooperatinprojections and recesses in said flange an plate for frictionallyrotating the latter to .move said lever when the recesses in said wheelsare adjusted to register with said fence.

6. A combination lock comprising selectively adjustable wheels, a bolt,a lever loosely connected with said bolt, a fence movable with saidbolt, -a spindle for adjusting said wheels and moving the lever a partmovably carried by the spindle an connected with said lever to move thelatter independently of the bolt to and from position for cooperationwith the spindle, and asecond part fixed to the spindle and frictionallycooperating with said first part to move the same and said lever whensaid wheels are adjusted relatively to said fence by said spindle. I c

7. A combination lock comprising selectively adjustable wheels, aspindle for adjusting the latter having a cam flange there-' on, a bolt,a fence movable with the bolt, a lever loosely connected with said bolt,a recessed plate rotatable on the spindle and connected with the leverto move the same independently of the bolt to and from co operation withsaid cam'flange, and a second plate fixed on the spindle in frictionalengagement with said first plate to move the same and said lever whensaid wheels and cam flange are adjusted relatively to said fence andlever respectively.

8. A combination lock comprising selec-' tively rotatable wheelseachhaving an outer a plate rotatabl carried by said spindle.

and lying radially inwardly of said setting means to expose the latter,a connection between said, plate and'bolt actuating means, andfrictional means connecting said spindle and plate to rotate the latterwhen the recesses in said outer wheel parts are rotated into registrywith. said fence,

9. A combination lock comprising a casing having a rear wall, a bolt insaid casing supported by a portion of said wall,

combination mechanism in said casing for actuating said bolt, and aspindle for operating said mechanism extending into said casing oppositea portion thereof spaced from said portion supporting the bolt, saidrear wall having a weakened section between the portions thereofadjacent said bolt and spindle.

10. A combination lock comprising a casing having spaced front and rearwalls, a bolt supported in said casing between said walls, meansforsecurlng saidwalls together adjacent said bolt, combination mechanismin said casing for actuating said bolt, and a spindle extending throughthe front wall of saidcasing opposite a portion of said rear wall spacedfrom said bolt and securing means, said rea -wall having a weakenedsection betwee means and said spindle to localize fracture thereat underexcessive pressure from said spindle.

EUGENE R. WEBER.

said j securing

